AT&T was unable to reach a settlement with the Communications Workers of America by the April 7th deadline to extend Four Core Wireline contracts. More than 40,000 employees will continue to work under the terms of the expired contract, however, as negotiations between the two parties continue. “The ongoing negotiation reflects the spirit of the longstanding relationship between the company and the union,” AT&T said. The carrier is looking to reduce worker benefits to cut costs in its wireline business, which has declined rapidly in recent years. The workers union has said that AT&T is seeking too many concessions, however, and instead wants the company to make adjustments to workers’ healthcare plans. The Communications Worker of America represents nearly 16% of AT&T’s 256,000 workers and it does possess the ability to call a strike if agreements on new contracts are not reached. AT&T’s press release follows below. More →

Foxconn’s plans to build a $12 billion factory in Brazil dedicated to producing iPads is “in doubt,” government officials in Brazil told Reuters. Reportedly, negotiations have stalled because both sides have yet to reach an agreement on tax breaks for Foxconn. Additionally, Brazil may not be able to populate the factory with enough skilled laborers. Worse still, Brazil has been tasked with building infrastructure for the 2014 World Cup followed by the Olympics two years later. Skeptics argue Brazil will not be able to finish all of the construction required for the two major sporting events and create Foxconn’s proposed “intelligent city” outside of Sao Paulo. Read on for more. More →

Verizon employees will end a widely publicized strike on Tuesday and return to work. 45,000 Verizon employees went on strike on August 7th after failing to reach an agreement over new contract terms. The Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers still have not reached an agreement with Verizon and the two sides are still negotiating, according to reports. In the meantime, the old contract remains in effect. “The strike was about the process,” Communications Workers of America president Larry Cohen said. “We are now convinced that a change to the process is possible. The risk of going back to work while negotiating this is worth it to us,” Cohen said, noting that it’s unlikely an agreement will be reached in the next month. Verizon spokesperson Rich Young told reporters that Verizon still wants to change union worker’s benefits as a result of a decline in wireline revenues.

Speaking with Bloomberg recently, HTC’s chief financial officer Winston Yung said that his company is open to cutting a deal with Apple over various patents the two companies are currently fighting over. “We have to sit down and figure it out,” Yung said. “We are open to all sorts of solutions, as long as the solution and the terms are fair and reasonable. On and off we’ve had discussions with Apple, even before the initial determination came out.” Earlier this month, an International Trade Commission judge ruled that HTC was infringing on two of Apple’s patents related to a “system and method for performing an action on a structure in computer-generated data,” and a “real-time signal processing system for serially transmitted data.” HTC said it would appeal the ruling, however, and Apple was also recently found guilty of infringing on patents owned by S3 Graphics, which HTC purchased in early July. More →

Everyone’s favorite star-crossed lovers — the likes of which haven’t been seen since General Hospital — may be coming back to the bargaining table, yet again, in an effort to unite two of the Internet’s biggest powerhouses. Yep, speculation is in full swing once more as Microsoft COO reveals the company is still interested in talks with the now-rebounding wonder of the Web, Yahoo.

They have a new CEO, and she’s formulating her business plans. We’ve certainly made her aware and the Yahoo! board aware that if they are ever interested in an opportunity to partner with them on search, we’d like to sit down and at least have the conversation. It has to make economic sense to both parties.

No, this isn’t the full-on acquisition Microsoft seemed so interested in pursuing last year. It is, however, a pretty wide open door for Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz and her cohorts to walk through. This isn’t to say Bartz will accept the invitation of course, but it would certainly be interesting to see how things play out without Yang around to continuously heave merciless sliders like Clemens after a fresh shot of HGH. Game on.